


Nice To Meet You

by RobinTrigue



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Soulmate AU, soulmate AU - final words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 06:25:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8133641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinTrigue/pseuds/RobinTrigue
Summary: In a world where everyone knows the last words they'll hear from their soulmates, Sami Zayn has given up on finding love before he's even started looking. Which, frankly, is a terrible idea.





	

Finn waved Sami over to his table as soon as the redhead finished placing his order. They were meeting up for coffee on one of the rare occasions the Raw touring schedule and Finn’s physical therapy brought them to the same town. Sami pulled out a chair, smile far warmer than the autumn sun.

“Finn! It’s so good to see you! Isn’t the weather glorious?” he beamed.

Finn chuckled. “It’s better than Orlando, that’s for sure,” he said as Sami unwound his scarf, dropping it onto the back of the chair and placing his cap on the table. “It reminds me of home, almost. I was nearly forgetting that seasons _could_ change.” He pushed aside his own finished plate of salad so there wasn’t anything between him and Sami on the table. Sami beamed again as he sat down; Finn smiled back and rubbed at the bandages on his chest, trying to soothe an ache that had nothing to do with his injury.

It wasn’t like he would do anything _now._ Back when he’d first built up the courage to act on those wonderful smiles and gentle touches, all the hugs they shared when they were out together or at house shows, Sami had been whisked away to the main roster. And, well, Finn knew Sami liked him fair enough as a friend, but he wasn’t going to gamble on asking him out when they were so far away. When he got drafted to Raw he’d got his hopes up again, and the high of the win had seemed _perfect,_ the ideal time to finally reveal his feelings – and then that got taken from him too.

But it was fine, Finn figured, heart racing as Sami fluffed his beard, laughing as tiny flecks of rain were loosed from it. Just a crush, nothing he couldn’t put off for another six months or so. Maybe more. No need to put himself out there _now_ , not while he was still stuck in recovery. Not when everything was already conspiring against him.

“...And have you seen any of the new superhero Lego sets they’re making?” Sami was asking. Finn forced himself to stop staring at the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. It was difficult, when Sami smiled so much and so beautifully.

“Yeah, I have! They’re incredible!”

“Ah, but do you _own_ any?” asked Sami, smile growing mischievous.

“Why are you asking, Sami?” Finn asked, drawing out the conversation just to watch Sami’s face get more and more expressive. He loved doing this.

“Oh, no reason at all!” said Sami, eyes wide with false innocence as he leant down towards the large paper bag he’d set on the floor beside him. “I only bring it up because I was-”

They were interrupted by a voice from the counter calling “Masala latte, for Sami?”

“One second, I’ll be right back,” Sami assured him. Finn fiddled with his napkin as he watched Sami going up to collect his drink. He definitely _didn’t_ particularly watch the way Sami’s cable knit jumper framed his... lower back.

The barista held out a steaming mug, smiling as Sami dropped some coins into the tip jar. “Nice to meet you, Sami!” she said with a nod as he took the drink from her. Sami turned to carry it back to the table, but to Finn’s surprise, he had a face like he’d just been punched in the gut.

 “You okay, mate?” he asked as he sat down. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” said Sami, trying to sip his drink too quickly and grimacing as he burnt his tongue. “It’s stupid, don’t worry about it.”

“If it’s upsetting you it isn’t stupid at all. Tell me.” Finn worried as Sami eyed him that he’d overstepped a boundary, but then to his surprise, Sami reached down and started unbuttoning one of his sleeve cuffs.

It must be his soulmate mark, Finn realised. Everyone had one on their wrists, allegedly the last words your soulmate will say to you, but it was considered polite not to look. Finn’s own read ‘I love you.’ He’d spent a good deal of time in his adolescence worrying about it, whether those words would be said in anger or sorrow or what, until he realised it was such an innocuous phrase there was no way of knowing until it happened. He’d made a rule to put it out of his mind: why should he waste time fretting over a hypothetical ending, when his focus should be on finding this person who will make him happiest and spending many years with them, full of many ‘I love yous’?

Here in the cafe, Sami pushed up his sleeve, and written there was ‘Nice to meet you, Sami.’

“I’m sorry, this is too personal and weird,” he began.

“No, no. Tell me,” said Finn gently. Sami bit his lip and draw his arm back, hands twisting in his lap.

“I can try to turn it off at work, you know? People I know I’ll be seeing a lot, it can’t be them so it doesn’t matter how I...” He stopped and shook his head, dispelling a thought. His eyes flicked up at Finn nervously, then back down to his lap. “But sometimes when I’m out and someone says it, it really gets to me. ‘Oh look, there goes another missed opportunity. There goes another person I’ll never see again, who’s out of my life forever. There goes my one chance at happiness.’”

Finn watched as Sami glared into his own lap, presumably at the offending wrist.

“I’m going to meet this person, and then we’ll be gone from each others lives, like that, without ever even knowing the other existed. Forever.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face, rubbing fingers deep over his eyes. “Sorry, I – how are _you_?”

Finn’s mind boggled and his heart hurt looking at the dejected, unrecognisable version of Sami Zayn that sat before him. The world was an unfair place, probably; he’d spent a lot of time thinking about that, down in Florida, in his worse moments. About how he knew he had to give up his title before he’d even won it. About how he was alone in America now, his family across an ocean and his best friend hundreds of miles from him in Connecticut. But never once had he thought, not even now could he begin to _imagine_ that the universe would be so cruel as to deny Sami Zayn love.

Sami groaned in frustration, tugging at his hair. “Sorry! Sorry! What a stupid question, I shouldn’t be asking how you are when you’re injured, I mean – uh–”

Sami. Perfect, beautiful Sami, who gave and gave with all his big heart, who never demanded anything in return. Had he really been believing this all along, that he wouldn’t be with anyone? Finn had to say something. He couldn’t think what, but he had to say something.

“Sami.” Finn reached forward with his free arm and tugged Sami’s hand away from his head, waiting until Sami looked up to continue. His heart throbbed at Sami’s sad face, the flash of hope and happiness when Finn touched him quickly quashed down. Oh, Sami.

“Sami... Of course you have someone out there who you’ll make happy, you must do, you’re incredible. Just because it’s the last words they’ll say to you doesn’t mean it has to be the _only_ words they’ll ever say. You could hack this thing, make it something you tell each other all the time; you shouldn’t let five little words keep you from ever being happy.”

Sami sighed, still looking dejected. “I guess? But it probably doesn’t work like that Finn, it’s so much more likely that I’ll be alone forever because I’m so irritating and hard to get along with and I always-”

“Sami, no,” insisted Finn. “That’s not true at all, not for one second.”

“Isn’t it?” said Sami, almost pleading. “Finn... even if you’re right, how am I meant to explain this to anyone? ‘Hey, we’ve been dating for a few months, now it’s your job to reassure me about me entire future’? Who would even like me that much to begin with?”

“I like you,” mumbled Finn, mouth moving independently of his brain. He was holding Sami’s _hand_. They were sitting so close at this tiny table, and Sami was there and he was hurting and Finn’s mouth just said it.

“Yeah, but...” Sami’s skin felt warm, soft. His brows stitched together. “You do?”

“Yeah. A lot.” Cat’s out of the bag, and Sami was so, so beautiful that Finn suddenly felt it was worth rejection just to let him know how beautiful he was.

“Oh.”

“...Sami? Are we okay?”

Sami swallowed, staring at their entwined hands, then up at Finn’s face. He didn’t pull his hand away. “I – because I didn’t think I – Finn, I’d always felt...”

Still holding his hands, still looking him in the eye, Finn swallowed and said quietly, “It’s nice to meet you, Sami.”

Sami’s breath hitched. “It’s nice to meet you too, Finn,” he said.

Finn hadn’t thought his smile could grow any wider but he felt his face tightening as it did, and Sami’s did too. Sami’s fingers squeezed his hands very slightly, and for some reason it made Finn laugh, a light breathless giggle. Sami’s eyes tightened like he’d just been told a wonderful secret, some delightful joke, and he leant in. For a moment, the two men sat there in silence, holding hands and laughing silently.

“The Legos!” Sami blurted out suddenly. “I – Finn, I bought them for you when I heard you were cleared, I went to a special store because I like you, I really like you a lot, I meant to do it as a friend but the truth is I like you!”

Finn was smiling so hard it was almost hard to breathe. They were both blushing as they grinned dumbly at each other and giggled. Finn couldn’t think what to say in response, so his mouth opened and said again, “Nice to meet you, Sami.”

Sami laughed, tugged him forward, and kissed him. The first of many, many kisses.

**Author's Note:**

> And then the rain stopped and they went to the park and Sami gave Finn every lego set there is and they kissed forever.
> 
> Sorry, I meant to write a cute thing and forgot the premise was super morbid? Anyway, I've been feeling kind of garbage lately, and this fic isn't much good but it's the only thing I've managed to get written so I figure I'll throw it up now and come back to fix it later perhaps.


End file.
